Saturday Midday in Dayton 2026

 Breaks never seem quite long enough at Sherlockian conferences, and sometimes conversations just want to keep going. They went from fifteen minutes to thirty this year, and I have to admit I was listening to someone else and not the introduction to our next speaker when Bob Bernier was introduced, and I am pretty sure I was far from the only one.

Bob's talk, "Transporting Sherlock Holmes," covered all those modes of transportation in Holmes's day -- rail bicycle, horse-dawn cab. 

Ann Margaret Lewis came next, kindly taking a vote on how we wished her to say the name "Irene" as she spoke on "Irene Adler: The Life of a 19th Century Opera Diva." (Inspector Lestrade was a little more forceful in telling us how to pronounce his name in that early talk today.) Ann walks us through the probable training and career path as a successful opera singers of that day. Europe, patronage, American opera houses both small and large, and, of course, La Scala. Toward the end we get to hear the full presentation of the piece Irene is heard to sing briefly in the Granada adaptation of "A Scandal in Bohemia." Timothy Chalamet's recent comments come to mind, if one is up on the Timothy Chalamet gossip.

Hotel box lunches follow, with some more conversation, some more spending at the dealer's tables, and at 1:45 we're back in our seats for the learned remarks of Bob Katz.

Bob's talk "Don't Drink The Water" is about the importance of Watson's enteric fever (a.k.a. typhoid), mentioned in A Study in Scarlet from before he met Sherlock Holmes to the rest of the Canon, from Watson's perspective, Conan Doyle's perspective, and a personal perspective. Bob Katz is the only person who could have given us the talk he gave today -- the unique sort of presentation we come to these weekends for. (Besides all the wonderful chance to socialize and see our friends.)

Our next speaker is a longtime Dayton attendee and a first time speaker. Mark Curtis is quick to point out that he's the first Amish speaker we've ever had at this conference, with an opening survey of the audience that points out his gaslit lifestyle is "always 1895." The talk itself "Was Holmes Unfair to Watson's Brother?" focuses on that pocket watch with which Holmes deduced much of Watson's "unhappy brother." Mark is a collector of pocket watches and very knowledgeable on the topic, and again a little personal experience and a little humor add a lot to a talk. Numbers scratched into the back of the watch, scratches near the key hole -- both of these can have innocent explanations, yet Watson's brother gets disparaged.

Time for another break! More to come.